1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to uncapped and thinned carbon nanotubes and the process for uncapping and thinning carbon nanotubes. Uncapped carbon nanotubes are useful for a wide variety of chemical reactions and may be enhanced by filling with another chemical reagent or catalyst.
2. Description of Related Art
Carbon nanotubes have been described as coaxial helical tubes of graphitic sheets, ranging in number from two to about fifty, with their ends closed by caps in S. Iijima, Helical M. of graphitic Carbon, Nature, 354, 56-58, (1991). The carbon nanotubes are produced in a manner very similar to that used to mass produce C.sub.60 as described in W. Kratschmer, L. D. Lamb, K. Fostiropoulos and D. R. Huffman, Solid C.sub.60 : A New Form of Carbon, Nature, 347, 354-358, (1990). A method for producing carbon nanotubes in bulk is described in T. W. Ebbesen and P. M. Ajayan, Large-scale Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes, Nature, 358, 220-221, (1992). The carbon nanotubes produced by Eddesen, et al were reported to be capped at their tips by pentagons. It has been reported that lead can enter a very small fraction of the capped nanotubes by treating them with molten lead. P. M. Ajayan and S. Iijima, Nature, 361, 333-334, (1993).